Cities keen to take the Knife Angel if London won't

A bid has been made for the Knife Angel sculpture to be placed in the city of Nottingham – but the artist who created it would like to see it in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester.

Alfie Bradley, who spent two years building the Knife Angel, said: “The main reason I want to see it in Manchester is because most of my family still live there.

“It needs to go to a major UK city first before it goes on tour.”

The Nottingham area has suffered a rise in knife attacks over the past few years which has led Paddy Tipping, the Police and Crime Commissioner for the city, wanting to host the monument against violence and aggression.

The British Ironwork Centre wanted to display the iconic Angel on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

But the London Mayor’s Office has now announced the monument space has been pre-booked for the next few years.

The Ironworks launched a petition which called on the London Mayor to find space for the Angel. It has already gained more than 9,500 signatures.

Clive Knowles, chairman and founder of the Ironworks – who would like to see the Angel as a Shropshire attraction beside the A5 one day – said: “It’s completely unacceptable for the London Mayor’s Office to have been so deliberately strategic in ensuring the column is occupied until 2022 and beyond.

“It’s well known the London Mayor’s Office, which governs the Fourth Plinth, believes the monument presents Britain in a negative light, portraying the UK’s people as violent and aggressive, which needn’t be the case.

“The whole nation has contributed to this monumental effort and it will never fulfil its destiny if the London Mayor’s Office continues to put the country’s image abroad before allowing the Angel to have its voice.

“The Angel was designed to be controversial, in an ambition to help jump-start governmental and educational action, highlighting what is Britain’s most aggressive trend, knife crime.

“The Mayor’s Office is guilty of ignoring the problem, knowing it has the means and the resources to assist the nation.

“For me, those with the capacity to help but who stand idly by in this time of desperate need should be considered complicit in allowing such a tragic national problem to continue.”